


it’s alright (twist the knife)

by faevalentine



Series: final girl [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Mentions of PTSD, Unrequited Crush, break ups suck my dude, for now..., kinda hopeful at the end, set during the halloween party where nancy and steve break up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:00:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28666620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faevalentine/pseuds/faevalentine
Summary: “He’s with Nancy though.”
Relationships: Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington/Original Female Character(s)
Series: final girl [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2100873
Kudos: 4





	it’s alright (twist the knife)

**Author's Note:**

> fic title taken from 'twist the knife' by the chromatics.
> 
> this is part of a series of random scenes about my oc rosemary and her relationship w steve. i've been meaning to write a cohesive and chronological fic about them but UGH you know. pls check the tags for any pertinent warnings. and if ur confused about rose's backstory read the first part of this series if u would like x

‘ _ See you there _ ’, he’d said. The phrase had been bounding around her head since Steve asked if she was going to the Halloween party. At first, she couldn’t tell why, it seemed like a stupid thing to fixate on but it didn’t take long until the realisation crept up on her. Or more accurately slammed her in the face.

On the phone with Chloe, cord wound around her fingers and receiver pressed to her ear, chattering away about this and that and  _ Steve _ . It starts with an off-hand comment from Chloe about the crush that she’d had on him in like third grade and then it crashes down on her like a tonne of bricks- and she goes suspiciously silent right in the middle of a sentence.

“ _ Rosemary- _ ” Chloe questions, concern spreading into her tone, “are you okay?”

There’s a quick swell of guilt in Rosemary’s chest from the evident concern, but she pushes it away because her therapist always tells her not to feel bad about letting people care about her. And then- because thinking about her therapist always leads down that road- she starts to spiral into thoughts about Charlie and blood and broken glass and rope tied around her ankles and-

“Rosemary?” Chloe says again.

Rosemary blinks hard and pulls herself back to the current moment. (The thoughts linger though like they always do).

She remembers Steve, “ _ Ugh, _ ” she groans, “Yeah, don’t worry. I just realised something.”

Chloe breathes an audible sigh of relief, then- “ _ Huh _ ? What?”

Rosemary watches herself frown in the vanity mirror across from her bed but looks away before the image warps itself into someone she doesn’t recognise, “Eh- I think I have a crush on Steve.”

“Really?”

“Hmm- yeah.”

“He’s with Nancy though.”

_ That he is _ . It’s not like she hasn’t noticed- and Chloe’s only saying it because Rosemary has been prone to bad decisions before, especially since the  _ incident  _ two summers ago. And Rosemary isn’t going to  _ do _ anything, even though she and Steve are working on that History paper, but she thinks after everything she’s been through, after  _ Charlie _ , she gets to have this. This one little inconsequential crush on Steve Harrington- it’s not harming anyone as long as she keeps it to herself.

“Yeah.” She says again.

“ _ Well _ ,” after a pause there’s a scraping noise that sounds like Chloe moving the stool she’s sitting atop, “You’re friends  _ right _ . There’s a way in if he and Nancy ever break up.”

Rosemary frowns once more. Charlie is back- asking her out, kissing her on her doorstep, sitting next to her at the drive-in, brain blown out on his front porch, hand clutched around a knife that glints in the moonlight. She hums absently in agreement as Chloe continues but her gaze drifts to the vanity mirror. It’s her- smooth porcelain skin, long brown hair braided into plaits on each side of her head, Hawkins High cheerleading uniform, full lips like her mother, round eyes the same shape as her father. But at the same time, it isn’t her- it doesn’t feel like her. There should be crusted blood and dirt rubbed into scrapes and blood weeping from cuts- at least that’s what it feels like. But there’s only long since healed silvery looking scars.

“I’ve got to go.” Rosemary sighs eventually, tearing her eyes away from the mirror and cutting Chloe off in the middle of something about one of the girls on the cheer team, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Chloe says softly, “Bring your Halloween stuff.”

“I will. Bye.”

  
  
  


They pick up Andrea at her house in Chloe’s Dad’s Audi Coupe. Andrea piles into the backseat, blonde hair in a bouncy ponytail and dressed in a glittering pink dress with a tiny pink bag to match.

“What’re you?” Rosemary twists around to stare at her.

Andrea rolls her eyes in her usual state of perpetual frustration, “ _ Barbie _ .” There’s almost an implied  _ duh _ after that, “What in the fresh hell are you two supposed to be?”

Rosemary glances quickly down at her dress, it’s blue tulle and cinched at the waist with a light pink ribbon. She’s got black Mary Janes and white ankle socks on and Chloe is wearing an almost identical outfit. She’d thought it was fairly obvious but Andrea doesn’t really  _ get _ movies.

“We’re the Shining twins.” Chloe laughs.

“Oh my god,” Andrea moans, “Typical. Better than I hoped though. I thought you might come as one of those Star War characters. At least you’re wearing dresses.”

“It’s Star  _ Wars _ .” Rosemary corrects.

“ _ Whatever _ ,” in the rearview mirror Rosemary sees Andrea wave her hand in dismissal, “You know we’re,  _ like _ , cheerleaders, we have a reputation to uphold.”

The rest of the car ride to the Halloween party goes pretty much the same, Rosemary and Chloe arguing with Andrea about the merits of watching ‘geek’ movies and Andrea bemoaning their distinct lack of coolness. Like it doesn’t become irrelevant the moment they walk into school with their cheerleader outfits on. Rosemary stopped caring about what other people think about her a long time ago.

Chloe has to park down the street from the house because the front yard has already been filled up with teenagers' cars. But it’s easy enough to find the party because of the dozens of teenagers milling about out the front. Once they’re in view of others Andrea sort of splinters off from them- darting to the door before they get up the driveway. Chloe and Rosemary share an amused look.

“You good?” Chloe asks, stopping Rosemary before they get to the door.

Rosemary nods, sparing a glance in the front window, she can hear the music blaring from out here. She looks back to Chloe, “Yeah, I’m good.”

It’s nice that the words don’t taste like a lie in her mouth for the first time in a while. Chloe touches her forearm reassuringly then gives her a nudge toward the front door.

The smell of beer and sweat hits her the moment they get inside. It’s loud too- shrieks and giggles and chatter over the sound of Night Fever by the Bee Gees. Andrea is part of the crowd already, a red cup teetering in her hand as she bats her eyelashes at some bozo guy that Rosemary doesn’t recognise- probably from another school. Chloe starts shimmying along to the song as they make a beeline for the drinks. The plan had been to bum off whatever communal drinks were on offer. Rosemary had no chance of getting alcohol with her FBI agent Dad and literal medical doctor Mom (among other things that made her parents overprotective of her), and Chloe’s older brother was out of town so that wasn’t a viable option. Which limited their options to a bowl of weird-smelling punch and bottles of vodka and tequila on the kitchen counter- though they seemed to fare alright because they both ended up with a cup full of punch after taking cursory tequila shots.

With the warm buzz of alcohol quickly settling in, Rosemary pulls Chloe out into the mass, dodging the new kid Billy who seems to have quickly amassed a following of complete dunderheads as they make their way across the room. They stop by Andrea for a bit, interrupting her conversation with the boy just because Rosemary knows it will grate at her nerves to be associated with ‘nerds’. After finishing their drinks and dancing for a little they end up in a corner with a few of the girls from the cheer team, talking about the latest gossip.

At some point, Rosemary decides to get another drink.

She pushes through the crowd to the other side of the room but is stopped halfway through the mass by Steve Harrington himself.

“Hey!” Steve smiles like he’s actually glad to see her and she can't help the fact that it gives her butterflies, “You came.”

Rosemary nods, fighting through the drunkenness to formulate a rational reply, “I said I would, didn’t I.”

He laughs and it’s only then- far too late- that she realises that Nancy is at his side. He’s got his arm around her too. Rosemary resists the urge to grimace in complete embarrassment.

“Hey, Nancy.”

Nancy purses her lips in something of a smile and nods in acknowledgment.

“So- _ uh _ ,” Steve says, gesturing at Rosemary’s outfit with his cup, “What’s your costume?”

“Oh. I’m one of the Shining twins. The other one’s back there.” Rosemary chucks a thumb back at the corner where Chloe and the other girls still are, “Not as good without her, huh.” She pauses, giving the couple a once over, she can’t quite put a finger on their costumes, “What are you guys?”

Steve looks at Nancy and she thinks he’s going to reply but Nancy puts on another clearly forced smile, “Risky Business. We’re Joel and Lana.”

Rosemary nods slowly, “Oh that’s so cool.” She hasn’t seen the movie and really has no clue who Nancy’s talking about, but something is so obviously  _ up  _ with Nancy and she really doesn’t want to admit she doesn’t know and potentially upset her more, “ _ Well _ .” Rosemary holds up her empty cup to indicate her departure, “Enjoy your night.”

Nancy nods vacantly and Steve says that he’ll find her later. Rosemary leaves them and slips back into the crowd. The conversation had left her with a bitter taste in her mouth, though it was unclear if that was from the jealousy that Rosemary felt or the animosity being aimed at her in waves from Nancy. Probably Nancy. Because,  _ sure  _ Rosemary did feel the little green monster creeping around a little, but it’s not like she could stake claim on Steve and  _ besides  _ the crush was barely full-fledged yet. And Nancy was being  _ like _ a massive bitch for some reason-

_ Ugh. _

Rosemary stops that train of thought before it gets carried away with her. Because  _ obviously _ , no matter how much she wants to deny it, this crush on Steve has been stewing for a while and she  _ is _ jealous. She can feel it bubbling in the pit of her stomach if she tries hard enough to identify it. She thinks back to staring at the back of his head in History class and sitting on her bedroom floor with him buried in books for their paper. The way her heart beat faster when they were announced as partners. His hair falling in front of his eyes as he watched her try to explain the Treaty of Versailles.  _ God _ , she’s got it bad and she didn’t even realise. She spares a quick glance backward but she can’t see Nancy or Steve anymore.

She turns around again, filling her cup up with a significant helping of punch, and then rushes back to her friends in the corner. They’re moving onto the makeshift dance floor as she approaches. She joins them while taking a gulp of her drink to drown out her thoughts. Chloe gives her this worried glance but lucky for Rosemary she shakes it off as quickly as it had come.

It doesn’t take long for the rush of anxiety to dissipate and for thoughts of Steve to melt back into an appropriate volume. In fact, she almost forgets about him for a while. 

At least until Nancy ends up with punch all down her front, in what is  _ clearly _ a spat between them and Steve disappears into the bathroom after her. She tries not to let it bother her, she  _ tries _ . But she and Steve are friends and he’s lived three doors down and across the road from her for her whole life. So she worries despite herself- though it's probably nothing when they don't come out of the bathroom for like five minutes. But Chloe keeps giving her this look and then Steve is hurtling out the bathroom door, hand worrying at the bridge of his nose and Nancy isn’t following.

And Chloe looks at her and says, “ _ Go _ .” And she takes Rosemary’s half-empty punch cup right out of her hand and pushes her in his general direction.

This is how Rosemary ends up right in Steve’s path through the mostly empty kitchen, stopping him before he can brush past her and go out the door.

“ _ Hey _ .” She says pointedly, looking at the keys in his hand, “You’ve been drinking.”

A frustrated look passes over his face, “ _ And _ ?”

“You can't drive.” She tells him, “ _ And _ ... my parents will kill me if they know I let you drive.”

The anger passes off his face and is replaced with a tired look, “Okay.”

“Okay.” She repeats, then she gestures at the door, “Come on, we’ll go sit on the lawn for a bit.”

They go outside and sit on the grass lining the sidewalk out the front. Rosemary shuffles over so there’s enough space in between them, so it doesn’t look suspicious if Nancy walks out. Not that she has those intentions anyway- she just doesn’t want him to crash and die, that’s all. Speaking of Nancy, she so desperately wants to ask what just happened between them but she can't bear to do it with the way Steve is settling his head in between his hands and blinking at an unremarkable spot in the concrete like his life depends on it. So she just sits with him and tries to wish the crush away.

“She doesn’t love me.” He says quietly after a little bit of time has passed. Quiet enough that she’s not sure that she’s heard him right, but loud enough that she knows what he’s said.

“Huh.” Rosemary breathes before she can help it.

“She doesn’t love me.” Steve repeats a little louder, a little more pained, “She said it was all bullshit. That  _ we _ were all bullshit.”

Her heart plummets. She searches for something to say to make it better, something to mend his breaking heart. But there’s nothing she could possibly say to make it okay- she’s all too familiar with that notion.

So she sets her fingertips gently on his arm- not touching his skin on purpose- in an attempt at a comforting gesture, “ _ Shit _ , Steve.”

“Yeah,” Steve sighs, pressing the palm of his hands to his eyes, “ _ Shit _ .”

“I’m sorry.” She picks at a piece of lint on her dress, “I know it doesn’t help. But I still am.”

He looks up at her, still hunched over his knees. His hair has started to deflate and she has to admit it all looks a bit sad and pathetic, especially with the Ray-Bans nestled in there. But his eyes are all dewey with unshed tears and his nose is kinda red and he’s looking at her all confused and contemplative, but mostly just sad. And for a second, it  _ aches _ . Her chest constricts and something hollows out in her chest. And she so desperately wants to reach forward and do something to make it better but she  _ can't _ \- it’s the absolute last fucking thing she should do right now. Instead, she offers him a sad smile until he hangs his head and shuts his eyes again. 

Later, after maybe half an hour, she nudges him gently on the shoulder. He lifts his head and his eyes are more red-rimmed than they were earlier, “Hey. You’re probably good to drive now.” She tells him, “If you want.”

He sucks in a long breath and nods, “Crap, yeah.” He unfolds himself and pushes himself up off the grass, “I guess you’re right.”

The last thing Rosemary expects as she readies herself to stand is to see Steve’s hand reaching out to help her, but she looks up and she does. Gingerly, like she’s trying not to touch him, she places her hand into his and he squeezes. With a short little tug, she’s up on her feet and standing way too close to him. She takes a hurried step back to put distance between them.

Steve scratches his jaw and she thinks that’s probably it- he’ll go and she’ll go back in and wait for Chloe to sober up so she can drive her and Andrea home. But Steve twists his mouth, “Hey, uh do you want a lift?” She blinks, “Or  _ um _ \- sorry- I’m sure you want to stay at the party.”

Rosemary shakes her head, she can feel the clip in her hair is coming loose, so she slides it out as she replies, “No, no. I’d love a lift. It smells like fucking beer in there anyway, I’m done.”

Steve nods and smiles just enough that she can't quite tell if he is or not. Then she follows him around the corner to where his car is parked, she climbs into the passenger seat and tries not to think about how Nancy was in this seat just a couple of hours ago. It’s bad enough she injected herself into this whole thing, nevermind the fact that he’s giving her a lift and she’s sitting in  _ Nancy’s _ seat.

Rosemary is tired and Steve is clearly emotionally exhausted so he drives them home in relative silence. Which is only broken when they pull down the street they share. Steve parks his car in an empty spot halfway between their respective houses.

“Thank you,” He says gently, “For tonight. It helped.”

Rosemary blinks herself out of the slumber she’d been drifting off into, “It’s fine.” She sighs wearily, “I’ve had my fair share of a shitty break-up experience. It fucking  _ sucks _ .”

She slides out of the seat after that, not waiting for him to look away. Whatever he’s thinking about her right now she isn’t sure she wants him to keep thinking it. Not right after Nancy. Not now. She shuts the door behind her and waits until he’s out of the car as well.

“Right.” She rubs at her eye and turns halfway to her house, “I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

He groans, “ _ Ugh _ , fuck. Yeah, I’ll see you in History.”

Rosemary laughs, like everything is normal for a few seconds, “Night.”

With that, she turns to walk the rest of the way up the street to her door, where her parents will be waiting with bated breath in the living room to make sure she’s alive and unharmed.

“Hey,” Steve calls. She turns around to look at him, “Do you want a lift tomorrow?”

She furrows her eyebrows- he’s far enough away that she has to yell a little, “I have cheer practice.” He looks slightly put off by that, which perplexes her, “Raincheck?”

Something that is  _ almost _ a grin spreads across his face, “Raincheck.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading. i mainly write on wp @/grgweasleys so if u see my stuff on there under that user its just me :) . i am also on tumblr under the same user.
> 
> [and pls check out the video edit for this series that my friend made me -https://youtu.be/g4SermVjqWs.]


End file.
